After a landmark 10-year run on the title, Marvel has formally announced author Dan Slott is departing from the main The Amazing Spider-Man title. The flagship series carries one of the most important Marvel comics characters of all-time and is a vehicle home to plenty of events and lots of huge stories. Slott has left a long-lasting legacy on the title and is one of the longest concurrent Spidey writers ever. The creators stepping in for him have extremely large shoes to full and lots of responsibility to continue the high level of quality he has consistently retained. Here are five writers from the House of Ideas that we think could step in for Slott:
Charles Soule
Author Charles Soule’s profile at Marvel has quickly been rising over the past couple of years. The writer’s profile has been growing as he has been tasked with molding the Death of Wolverine and dispatching key mutants in X-Men with Death of X. Soule has proved that he can handle big events and retain a long seal of quality on comics like Daredevil and his work on Inhumans. In many ways, the creator feels like he very much could be next in the line for the series even despite his busy slate of titles at Marvel. With Soule’s Daredevil run hitting a milestone issue and a rumored relaunch for Marvel as a whole at the end of the year, it may be time for the writer to take on one of the biggest projects in his career!
Mark Waid
This may be another, no-brainer, but the incredibly prolific Mark Waid could very likely be next in line to take on the main writing and creative duties for Spider-Man. Waid already has a legacy with the wall-crawler and was an instrumental part of the overlooked Brand New Day creative team. He already has a strong batch of issues with Peter as the well-regarded trio of entries from the main series show he can tell a great story with the right tone: #578,579 and 583. The Shocker and Betty Brant stories depict pitch-perfect characterization for everybody involved and would be the next step in cementing Waid’s recent resurgence over at the publisher thanks to his beloved Daredevil run. Waid has worked on so many properties at the publisher and Peter Parker could very well be his next assignment!
Christopher Priest
This one may be the biggest reach in the column, but Christopher Priest has worked on a couple of Marvel projects lately and rumor has it that Preist’s phenomenal work on Deathstroke could be coming to an end. His contributions to the series could shepherd some deep characterization from the supporting cast and would be a really good way to show versatile the creator can be. With the success of his Inhumans: Once And Future Kings mini-series and his return to Black Panther, he has reestablished a relationship with Marvel and already shown he can take on a big workload with the shipping schedule of Deathstroke. With the loss of acclaimed writer Brian Michael Bendis, Priest’s loyalty to the web-head would be a wonderful asset to Marvel as a whole that could signify Marvel’s own Rebirth.
Chip Zdarsky
Author Chip Zdarsky has already turned in solid monthly Spider-Man work thanks to Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man. With the creator already being aligned with the property and publisher, he very well could potentially take both titles and double-down on Marvel. Now that Zdarsky is tackling writing duties on Marvel Two-in-One, he’s upped his status at the and shown he could be next in line to take on the flagship Marvel hero. With the trend of creators currently tackling twin books on the same property at the same time, Zdarsky could potentially stay on both books and continue to work on Marvel Two-in-One. If he were to leave either title, the rumored relaunch could be the next piece to align Zdarsky directly to The Amazing Spider-Man.
Jason Aaron
One of Marvel’s biggest writers may have an opening with the ‘Death of The Mighty Thor’ arc possibly signifying the end of his landmark run on Thor. This could lead Aaron directly towards the Spider-Man-shaped hole Marvel is looking to fill at the moment. Bringing over a huge creator like Aaron to the series seems like another sure bet and Aaron has shown enough enthusiasm and optimism in comics like Wolverine and the X-Men to prove he could have a fantastic run on the comic. Previously Aaron has shown some amusing characterization for Spider-Man in some of his interactions with Wolverine and humor-based contributions to the publisher which cannot be overlooked. Aaron is so talented and versatile that he would be another solid choice for Marvel to pick for one of the most important comics in the publishing line.
There you have it, five creators who have pretty much all already contributed to Spidey in some form or another over the past couple years that would likely get the industry excited and keep fans talking. Either way, Marvel’s creative team announcement should be just on the horizon with Slott’s big finale hitting comic book stores in May within the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #801.
Strong list of candidates, I could easily foresee one of them taking the reins. I am curious about the absence of Nick Spencer from this list. A certain rumor site and other dark corners of the comic book internet have been mentioning Nick Spencer as a possible successor before Slott’s departure became official.
Nick Spencer with Ryan Ottley last I heard, for Free Comic Book Day.
Also Dan Slott’s finale is #801
Christopher Priest on Spider-Man would be a coup for Marvel. Here’s hoping.
I don’t know if Jason Aaron would be right for Spider-Man, but he’s a great writer and I’d definitely give it a shot. I think Chip Zdarsky is probably the best choice of these five. His current Spider-Man series is on point.
Not all that good of a crop to choose from. Aaron is definitely the best of the five but with him doing the relaunched Avengers he’s probably out. And sorry, never really liked anything Christopher Priest has done. Zdarsky is a decent writer but his Peter Parker has only been a little above average in my book. Always been a fan of Mark Waid, but his recent Avengers stuff has just been fairly average. Ah heck, I can’t even think of any decent writers left to take over ASM.
Like Mo, I think that Nick Spencer is the most likely to follow on AMAZING, writing along his usual SUPERIOR FOES or ANT-MAN style instead of his SECRET EMPIRE style.
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